Saddle Up Anyway

Be strong, and let your heart be courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24 CSB

John Wayne once said, "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway."

I've never ridden a horse across the open plains, but I know what it feels like to wake up afraid.

During the years my daughter battled alcoholism, fear became my constant companion. Every phone call made my heart race. Every late-night text stole my breath. I imagined worst-case scenarios before my feet even hit the floor each morning. Eventually, fear wasn't just something I felt.

It became the lens through which I saw everything.

Looking back, I realize I spent years believing courage meant somehow becoming less afraid.

God showed me otherwise.

Courage isn't the absence of fear.

It's choosing to trust God while fear is still whispering, or shouting, in your ear.

God has never asked His people to manufacture courage on their own.

He asks us to trust the One who goes before us.

God didn't tell Joshua there would be nothing to fear. He promised him wouldn't face it alone.

I didn't learn that lesson all at once. God taught it to me one frightening day at a time, as He gently pried my fingers off the illusion that I could control what only He could carry.

My circumstances didn't change overnight. My daughter's recovery was still a long road. But little by little, I stopped asking God to remove every frightening possibility and started asking Him to help me trust Him in the middle of them.

That's where courage grows. It’s where faith grows too.

Sometimes courage looks like having a hard conversation. Sometimes it's taking the next step when you can't see the whole path.

Sometimes it's releasing someone you love into God's hands because you finally realize they were never yours to carry in the first place.

Whatever you're facing today, God isn't asking you to be fearless.

He's inviting you to trust that His presence is greater than your fear.

Not because you're brave enough.

But because He's faithful enough.

Fear may ride beside you.

But it doesn’t get to hold the reins.

So saddle up anyway.

You are loved!